Paring, splitting and coring knife



D.' P. STEEPLES. FARING, SPUTTING, AND CORING KNIFE. APPLICATION msn MAR. 3. 1922.

1,431,764. v Patented Oct. 10, .1922.

afrontan Patented @et 10, 1922.'

runirno- STATES DANIEL r'. sTEEPLns, or suivrnnn, WASHINGTON.

PARING, SPL-ITTING- `AND CORING KNIFE.

Apnncaton med March 3, 1922. serial No. 540,775.

1T o all fro/wm it 'may concern Be it known that DANIEL P. SrEnrLns, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Sumner, in the county of Pierce and State of Washington, has invented new andv useful Improvements in Paring, Splitting, and Gering Knives, of which the following is a specification.

' Theobject of the invention is to provide l0 a fruit peeling or paring, splitting and c012- ing utensil adapted to perform all the functions incident to the preparation of fruit and `particularly of pears and the like v,for canning or preserving and particularly designed for the use of the operatives in c anning factories or canneries while alsombeing suitable for domestic use; and more especially to provide a single tool or utensil capable of performing the several functions incident to the preparation of fruit for canning purposes as a means of avoiding the necessity under the present practice of employing a plurality of devices which must be used alternately or interchangeably in the preparation of the fruit as for example in the paring and splitting and coring and stemming thereof, and hence to avoid the loss` of time incident to exchanging implements in the course of the work, and incidentally to provide means for accomplishing the desired purposes whereby facility and accurac without waste of the fruit may be attained; and with these objects in view the invention consists in a construction and combination of parts of which a preferred embodiment is shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein z- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a fruit preparing utensil embodying the invention.

Figure 2 is a side view of the same.

Figure 3 is an edge view thereof.

The device consists essentially of a blade 10 and a handle 11 of which the latter is attached by rivets 12 or the equivalents thereof to an extended shank or tang 13 of the former, and a coring and stemmingr head 14 carried by and formed as an extensionl of the blade.

The handle is preferably formed as a single block which is sawed or lrerfed as indicated at 15 to receive the shank or tang of the blade, so that the surface 16 against which the fingers of the hand of the operator bear, and which is convexed or rounded smoothly for that purpose, is unbroken and 'the blade adjacent to `the innerend of the 'f Y The blade is beveled as indicated at 19 to 'form a paring and splitting edge and the `head consists ofan abrupt bow which is of affords no means whereby the chalfng or objectionable rubbing of :the hand may be caused. The upper outer portion of the handlelor grip is provided with a deliection or horn 17 to Vserve as a bearing for the index 60 linger and prevent the slipping of the finger from the handle or grip portion'. Also as a further means of preventing injury to the hand of the operator the heel portion 18 of handle' or gripn is transversely flattened or dulled as indicated to form a bearing for the Iend of the thumb of the operator in manipulating and directing the blade in operation.

trunco-conical form having its opposite edges beveled as indicated at 20 and 21, the free end of the bow being sharply deflected as at 22 to provide a stemming gouge 23. The ear 22 formed by the abruptly defiected portion extends from the angle of the stemming gouge toward the inner surface of the bow formed by the head.

In practice, after the fruit has been split, whether pared or not, to form halves carrying corresponding portions of the core, particularly in the treatment of pears .and similar fruit, the half which is retained in the y holding hand of the operator should be in a position with the stem directed outwardly or toward the ends of the fingers while the blossom is directed inwardly toward the base of the thumb, whereupon an inward sweeping movement of the head with the convex side thereof directed toward the cut surface of the fruit section, and starting at 'the base of the stem, will result in cutting out the core without removing any considerable portion of the meat of the fruit, the cutting edge of the bow describing a curved path which is materially facilitated by the conical form of the head. Moreover the enlargement diametrically of the head toward the rear edge serves to release the core which is received thereby so as to readily permit of discharging it from the interior of the head. Again the bevelling of the back or larger edge of the head as well as the front or cutting edge thereof tends to give the head an exterior transversely convexed contour which facilitates the tipping lof the head or directing it in a curved path so as to take out the core with the minimum 110 of rest adjacent portions of the skin of the fruit in` the stem socket or bit. It will be understood that'in the coring of the fruit the cutting motion of the head is started at the base of the stem and progresses toward the blossom end of the fruit whereas the stemming of the fruit is accomplished by a movement of the stemming gouge in the opposite drection or from the base of the stem toward the stem end of the fruit.

`Hence the operation of splitting a pear for example so as to leave one half in the hand of the operator and the subsequent operations of coring and stemming can be accomplished practically without any interval and hence without any such loss of time as is involved in changing implements for the several purposes, and the half of the fruit which has been dropped in the splitting' thereof can immediately be grasped to repeat the operations of coring and stemming with the minimum of effort and eX- penditure of time, to the end that the proper preparation of the fruit for canning purposes may be accomplished by the ordinarily skillful operator in materially less time than is possible under the conditions which at present obtain in the equipment of canning factories.

Having described the inventonfwhat is claimed as new and useful is :f-

l. A fruit preparing utensil `having a handle carrying paring and splitting blade provided with a terminal coring head consisting of a bow having a terminal V-shaped portion forming a stem gouge.

2. A fruit preparing utensil having a handle carrying paring and splitting blade provided with a terminal coringhead consisting of a bow having a vterminal inwardly directed the bow to form a V-shaped stem gouge.

In testimony whereof he aflix'es his signature.

DANIEL l?. STEEPLES.

ear intersecting the cutting edge of 

